Ultrafast tracer imaging for positron emission tomography

A system that facilitates performing ultra-fast tracer imaging, comprising:

• a total-body dynamic PET scanner configured to perform a high-temporal-resolution, total-body dynamic PET scan on a subject as an intravenously injected radioactive tracer propagates through the vascular system of the subject to produce PET projection data;
• a processing module that applies an image reconstruction technique to the PET projection data to produce subsecond temporal frames, which illustrate the dynamic propagation of the radioactive tracer through the vascular system of the subject;
• and
• a display device configured to output the temporal frames.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for performing ultra-fast tracer imaging on a subject using positron emission tomography (PET), the method comprising:

• performing a high-temporal-resolution, total-body dynamic PET scan on the subject as an intravenously injected radioactive tracer propagates through the vascular system of the subject to produce PET projection data;
• applying an image reconstruction technique to the PET projection data to produce subsecond temporal frames, which illustrate the dynamic propagation of the radioactive tracer through the vascular system of the subject;
• and
• outputting the temporal frames through a display device.